In her recent PT Travel Linkfest 12.17.2007 PT blogger Sheila links to a post on Social Networks including Flickr.

Flickr is a photo sharing website, which allows people to post pictures and share them around the world. A laudable idea, and one that can be very useful for keeping in touch when you travel, but a number of people have had problems with other people - and even organisations - stealing images. This might not seem like a problem, but some of them have been used for commercial uses, without the subject’s permission. When Virgin Mobile used a picture by Damon Chang of his niece for a major advertising campaign, the company actually didn’t do anything wrong, as Damon put up the picture under a creative commons licence. This effectively allows anyone to use the picture for any purpose, so long as they credit the photographer. Unfortunately, the photographer claims not to have understood the licence, and the niece is certainly unimpressed by the advertisement.

The case of Lara Jade, who had a self-portrait of herself at the age of 14, used on the cover of a movie of a grown-up nature (sorry - have to be obscure to avoid google adsense ads for the same sort of product) is even more worrying. The picture taken by this keen photographer was stolen from the Flickr site, and used without permission, even though it was copyright flagged! When she complained she was basically abused by the people who stole her image, although it has subsequently been changed!

Looking around the web, there seem to be many cases where people have had images stolen and misused from being on photo sharing sites. Although it is nice to stay in touch - it is also pretty good to stay in control!

I am endlessly fascinated by India. It treads a unique line between age old mysticism and the modern world, that always seems to draw me back. The very scale of India is bewildering: the largest demacracy in the world, it is home to the Kumbh Mela festival that is the largest gathering of humans ever on the planet; Indian Railways is the largest single employer in the world with over 1.6 million employees and Cherrapunji is the East is the wettest place on the planet.

There are also a lot of strange happenings in India, but after you have spent time there they all seem somehow quite normal!

Take the train driver who asked all of the passengers to get out and push in the state of Bihar after the train stalled between electrical points. Thirty minutes later and they were on their way!

Or how about this story in a Pakistan paper about Earring wearing monkeys that are a novel way to mark out animals that have been sterilised in a program to reduce numbers, but without killing animals believed to be sacred.

Spend any time in India and you will have to get used to the ubiquitious Head Waggle a unique way of signalling agreement of all forms.

More strange is the Dope Chewing Squirrel and the Sword Weilding Surgeon.

And where else but the city that gave us Dehli Belly (quite literally) would you find the Toilet Museum?

We head back to the impoverished state of Bihar to hear of a legal case that has dragged on for Thirty Years where a poor farmer stands accused of stealing two long dead oxen when he was just 13.

India is of course noted for it’s spirituality and it’s Sadhus, or holy men. Many of these carry our bizarre panances like standing for years or even holding one hand in the air for decades. One of the most bizarre penances though belongs to Ludkan Baba, the Rolling Baba who rolls for world peace - once carrying out a rolling pilgrimage of 4000 kilometres. Our very own editor of Perceptive Travel, Tim Leffel wrote about Smokin’ Sadhus and their use of dope for meditation.

Well now I have sucked up to the boss, here is a bit of shameless self promotion. The perceptive amongst you will notice that three of these links involve the state of Bihar - the most impoverished yet one of the most fascinating in India. The tax officials there even employ transvestite eunuchs to shame people into paying tax! In November I will be leading a photo tour to the Sonepur Mela, which happens in Bihar and is the largest livestock fair in the world. Famed for its haathi bazaar where elephants are traded, the tour also takes in the Taj Mahal at Agra, the holy city of Varanasi, the Buddhist pilgrimage centre of Bodh Gaya and the beguiling city of Calcutta. Westerners seldom visit the mela, and it really is a chance to get off the beaten track and to visit one of the most traditional and unspoilt festivals in India - and to improve your photography of course! More details from the Intrepid Travel website.

Words & pictures © Steve Davey 2007

Wanderlust Magazine has to be the best travel magazine in the UK, and not just because I am their regular photography correspondent. It is a magazine for actual travellers, not a luxurious pseudo style guide for the sort of people who think that travel is a fashion statement and that the only locals they want to meet are wearing purple waistcoat, carry a tray of cocktails and calling them ‘baaas’.

In the latest issue they celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love, writing about the overland trail from London to Katmandu. Other highlights include trekking in the Rif Mountains of Morocco, bear watching in Canada and an in-depth round up of Bolivia.

So why big up a UK magazine on an international blog? Well there is a great inducement for international subscribers to this great magazine. Wanderlust have just launched their Travel Photograph of the Year competition for 2007, and international subscribers are eligible. There are four amateur categories where you can win one of four trips to Australia, and a portfolio competition (which is open to both pros and amateurs) where the prize is a massize £5000. That is a colossal 10,000 American roubles! (Sorry - couldn’t resist), which is double the cash prize of any competing UK competition!

There are more details on the Wanderlust site. Good luck!

© Steve Davey 2007